assistant (to the) regional manager?

September 27, 2012 10:00 AM

What should my new job title be?

Please help this writer-type write a few important words.

I'm in the marketing department of a local financial institution. The department is currently made up of me and my boss, the Asst VP of Marketing. I was brought on as Communications Specialist & I do all the writing for the organization...marketing copy, corporate communications like annual reports and impact reporting, social media, advocacy pieces, communications with our regulator, interviews with grantees/borrowers for success stories, etc. I don't do print buying or a whole lot of media work beyond press releases; we have an education guy who has a regular gig on the local morning news, for example, and that's definitely not me. I'm as behind the scenes as possible.

Up to now we also had a graphics person who was called Marketing Specialist (very hierarchical structure here: outside of branch staff everyone is Representative, Specialist, Analyst, Manager, AVP, VP ... and I'm not an analyst, hence the need for a new title). That person left & will be replaced by an entry-level admin with some graphics skills, and I'll get formalized training in design software (self-taught on CS2 but now have CS6 woohoo!). So production and some design will be officially added to my job, and we'll use an outside agency from time to time on campaigns.

So I need a new job title to go with my new duties and my bump in salary/grade. HR wants "marketing" to remain in the title somewhere and suggested "Marketing Coordinator" but that actually sounds more narrow and like a step down from "Communications Specialist." She's leaving it up to me & my boss, who is traveling at the moment so I get to (over)think about it. I introduce myself to some vendors and others as "Staff Writer" because I don't have to explain it and it includes the corporate communications stuff, but now that won't include the new graphics duties.

If this were a large company then "Project Manager" would make sense but "manager" in this company is a loaded word. I've googled around some but haven't seen anything that sounds right. Can y'all help me come up with some job titles that make sense here? Thank you.

posted by headnsouth to work & money (16 answers total)

Marketing and Communications Lead
posted by inturnaround at 10:04 AM on September 27, 2012 [2 favorites]

Senior Communications Specialist?
posted by sillymama at 10:05 AM on September 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Hit post instead of preview, ugh. Anything indicating senior or lead establishes you as the key person in the department, and is a nice next step towards communications officer (which I've really only seen in gov't titles) or manager.

Also, I love the title of your post. :)
posted by sillymama at 10:09 AM on September 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Marketing and Communications Director
posted by carmicha at 10:10 AM on September 27, 2012 [3 favorites]

Are you in between Specialist or Analyst, or outside the hierarchy entirely? We have Marketing Analyst here, which just means Experienced Tactical Marketing Person.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 10:11 AM on September 27, 2012

Are you in between Specialist or Analyst, or outside the hierarchy entirely? We have Marketing Analyst here, which just means Experienced Tactical Marketing Person.

Outside the hierarchy entirely. My boss the AVP does the targeting and ROI and budgeting, I do the projects themselves. Breaking it down I'd guess my work is 50% marketing projects and 50% projects for other departments.
posted by headnsouth at 10:18 AM on September 27, 2012

So you'll be the primary copywriter and also the lead on most of the graphic design work now? I'd go with: Marketing Content Specialist.
posted by asnider at 10:20 AM on September 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Seconding Marketing & Communications Director.
posted by i_wear_boots at 10:21 AM on September 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Usually a step up in the organization means a broader title. Therefore
Marketing Content Specialist < Communications Specialist < Marketing & Communications Director
posted by barnone at 10:24 AM on September 27, 2012 [1 favorite]

Director seems kinda loaded too. What about Administrator or Consultant?
posted by elsietheeel at 10:24 AM on September 27, 2012

Media Marketing Specialist

Just off the top of my head. If Manager was an option, I'd through that on there instead of Specialist. Also, Sr. in the front wouldn't look amiss.

Sr. Media Marketing Specialist
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 10:34 AM on September 27, 2012

What about Administrator or Consultant?

"Administrator" doesn't sound like it involves creative work, more like office management. And "Consultant" sounds like a contract employee.
posted by carmicha at 10:39 AM on September 27, 2012

The person who does what you do in my organization (academic) is the Creative Services Manager.
posted by dlugoczaj at 11:51 AM on September 27, 2012

Marketing Strategist?
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 12:15 PM on September 27, 2012

The description of your remit sounds like it would be beneficial to have 'Communications' in the title. That makes your role's focus pretty clear internally, where something like 'project manager' would not. It's also a good cue for external partners (vendors/ media/ potential agencies/ next job). HR wants Marketing in there and manager is too loaded. So I'd agree that Marketing Communications Lead sounds like a good title for this role.

If you're running budget compliance and other parts it might be a Director level role, but it sounds like that's what your AVP is doing. I also steered away from suggesting it because if in a hierarchy sensitive workplace Manager is a loaded word already it's likely something like Director is too.

Additionally, LinkedIn would be a good resource to brainstorm with - you can get a sense of the various titular forms these kinds of roles take.

Congrats on your new role!
posted by pymsical at 12:32 PM on September 27, 2012

Underassistant West Coast Promotion Man
posted by layceepee at 4:11 PM on September 27, 2012 [1 favorite]